Subjected to Futility in Hope, Part 2

John Piper

John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is author of more than 50 books, including Reading the Bible Supernaturally.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed
to us. 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits
eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of
Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation
itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into
the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For
we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of
childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but
also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we
ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our
adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 For in
hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who
hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we
hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for
it.

I argued last time that verses 18-25 are written to help you
endure the suffering required in verse 17. "If you are children of
God, then you are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ,
if you suffer with him, in order that you might be
glorified with him." I said that the sum of the argument was this:
"It's worth it." In other words, whatever suffering may be
necessary in your life as a Christian, it's worth it in view of
what you will gain if you trust Christ – and what you will
lose if you don't.

This means that the main point of verses 18-25 is to give you
hope. But instead of moving straight to the hope of these verses, I
spent all of last week putting a kind of sober, even fearful,
support under your hope. I know that sounds odd – a fearful
support for hope. But it's true and it's real. There is a painful
realism in this text, and it is meant to help you hold on to your
hope as a Christian. The realism is this: It helps us endure our
suffering in this life to know that it is part of a global,
divinely-ordained futility (v. 20) and decay (v. 21) and groaning
(v. 23). In other words, the sufferings of this life are part of a
universal, God-decreed collapse of creation into disorder because
of sin. God subjected the world to futility – that's verse 20
– because of sin. And therefore all the misery of the world
– and it is great – is a bloody declaration about the
ghastly horror of sin.

Does "Suffering" Refer to All Pain, or just Persecution?

And let me clarify here a question that I have been asked
several times, namely, Do you mean all suffering, or just the
suffering that comes because we are Christians? Do I mean all pain,
or just persecution? Answer: I mean all pain that you meet on your
way to heaven and endure by trusting Jesus.

I grant that Paul has in mind in verse 17 suffering for Christ
that comes from our adversaries. But I deny that this is
all that he has in his mind. For two reasons: one is that
the rest of the text from verses 18 to 27 unfold a futility and
corruption and groaning and weakness that are broader than that.
The suffering "of this present time" in verse 18, which follows
right after verse 17, is the suffering that comes from the world
being subjected to futility (v. 20) and leads to the groaning that
makes us want to have new resurrection bodies (v. 23). It is
universal suffering that comes with a fallen creation, not just the
suffering of persecution.

And the second reason I don't think Paul limits suffering to
persecution in verse 17 is because at root the threat of all
suffering is the same – whether it comes from human
persecution or from Satanic attack or from natural disease or
disaster – namely, the threat that our faith in God's
sovereign goodness will be destroyed. In the end, the issue is not
whether your pain is triggered by man or Satan or nature, but
whether you trust the sovereign goodness of God over it all and
through it all to bring you to everlasting glory.

The comfort and encouragement of this text is not that God has
nothing to do with hostile humans or hateful demons or harmful
nature, but that in it all and through it all he has hope-filled
designs for his children. This is what verse 28 is going to say in
summary: "We know that God causes all things to work together for
good to those who love God, to those who are called according to
His purpose." So when I talk about hope in suffering, I mean any
and all suffering that you must endure on your way to heaven which
you endure by holding fast to Jesus Christ.

Now let's look at the way Paul helps us keep on hoping in Christ
when our suffering is great. I will point you to six things that
Paul says – at least – maybe more depending how you
break them up in pieces.

1. God Promises that after This Time of Suffering We Will See
an All-satisfying Beauty and Greatness

Verse 18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be
revealed to us." "Glory" I take to mean "overwhelming,
all-satisfying beauty and greatness." "Be revealed to us" I take to
mean, "we will see it." There is much more to our hope. But let's
just take this part and let it sink in.

Seeing beauty and greatness is one of the passionate desires and
deep longings of the human heart – built into us by God. We
get pleasure from seeing beauty and greatness in movies and museums
and world-class sporting events and art galleries and concerts and
the Boundary Waters and the Grand Canyon and the Rockies and the
ocean and sunrises and meteor showers. Seeing beauty and greatness
is a huge part of our joy in life.

All of these earthly things are images, reflections, pointers to
a greater beauty and a greater greatness. They all point to the
glory of God. Seeing this will be the end of our quest for beauty
and greatness. This is why Jesus prayed for us the way he did in
John 17:24, "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given
me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory." This was the
greatest thing Jesus could pray for on our behalf. It was the
climax of his prayer. Seeing the glory of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, was the best gift Jesus could pray that we would receive after
we had suffered in this life.

Assuming one thing! That we will be glorified and changed and
able to savor what we see. Which leads us to the second statement
about our hope.

2. God Promises that the Children of God Will Be Revealed with
Glory of Their Own

Verse 19: "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly
for the revealing of the sons of God." So verse 18 says that
something will be revealed to us, and verse 19 says that we
ourselves will be revealed. What does this mean?

It means that right now the children of God do not look
glorious. We look pretty much like everyone else. We get hungry and
tired and sick. We age and we die. And on the way to the grave we
make some progress in overcoming our selfishness and pride and
greed, but we never get beyond the need to be justified by faith
alone because of Christ alone, and we will say with Paul till the
day we die, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the
body of this death?" (Romans 7:24). So we don't not look all that
great. We are not titans. We have our gospel treasure in jars of
clay (2 Corinthians 4:7).

But Jesus said in Matthew 13:43, "Then the righteous will shine
like the sun in the kingdom of their Father." And Paul said in
Colossians 3:4, "When Christ who is your life appears, then you
also will appear with him in glory." And most relevant of all,
consider verse 21 here in our own text: "The creation itself also
will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of
the glory of the children of God." The freedom of the glory of the
children of God!

So when verse 19 speaks of "the revealing of the sons of God"
now we know what will be revealed. "The freedom of the glory of the
children of God." This is what we saw at the end of verse 17
– that we would be glorified with Christ – that our
bodies and minds and hearts would be so completely renovated that
nothing would stand in the way of savoring Christ for all he is
worth.

So in verse 18 God promises that we will see the greatest glory
in the universe. And in verse 19 God promises that we will savor
that glory because we will be changed by that glory so completely
that we are free from anything that would frustrate our joy in
God.

And don't miss one other massive truth in verse 19: all of
creation is oriented on the revelation of the children of God. God
made the universe for us, not us for the universe. We inherit the
world, the world doesn't inherit us. Of all God's created universe
which has fallen into futility and decay and groaning, only human
beings have the capacity to glorify God with conscious worship. So
all creation is standing on tiptoe waiting for our revelation
– as glorified worshippers.

3. God Promises that His Ultimate Design in the
Decree of
Futility Is Hope for His Children

Verse 20: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not
willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope." The
effect this is supposed to have on us is to make us seriously and
soberly hopeful. Serious and sober because God has decreed the fall
of the universe into futility and decay and groaning and weakness.
That makes us sober. It makes us tremble with a due respect for the
infinitely holy God who rules over the universe with justice and
hatred for sin.

But the point of verse 20 is that this futility and judgment is
not his ultimate design. The words "in hope" at the end of verse 20
show that God's aim in his judicial decree of futility and pain is
hope. So when you feel almost overwhelmed by your own pain and the
pain of the world, remember: this was not God's final design. If
you will trust him and hold fast to him as your treasure, then it
will all be turned for your good. That's what the word "hope" means
at the end of verse 20.

4. God Promises that All Creation, not Just the Children of
God, Will Be Freed from the Present Misery of Futility and
Corruption and Groaning

Verse 21: "The creation itself also will be set free from its
slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children
of God." We've already seen from verse 19 that the children are
going to be revealed with glory that suits them to enjoy the glory
of God. But now we see the other part of the promise in verse 21:
Creation too will be freed from its slavery to corruption and decay
and futility. In other words, the universe will be changed into a
place perfectly suited for the perfected and glorious children of
God.

No more destructive tornadoes or hurricanes or floods or
droughts or plagues or diseases or accidents or harmful animals or
insects or viruses. The prophecy of Isaiah 65:17 will come to pass:
"Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former
things shall not be remembered or come into mind." And the prophecy
of Revelation 21:1-5 will come to pass as well:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. . . .
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and
death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying
nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I
am making all things new." (See also 2 Peter 3:13)

You recall that I have said several times, based on verse 17,
that we must be glorified in order to be able to respond with
appropriate joy to God and to the gift of the world that will be
given to us for an inheritance. But now it might be better to say:
the world will have to be glorified so that it is a suitable
environment for freedom of the glory of the children of God. In
other words, our freedom and our glory will be so great that only a
glorified world will be adequate to suit our almost infinite
capacities for happiness. That's what verse 21 promises: "The
creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to
corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of
God."

5. God Promises that the Miseries of the Universe Are not the
Throes of Death but the Labor Pains of Childbirth

Verse 22: "For we know that the whole creation groans and
suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." This is
another way of saying that God subjected the creation to futility
in hope (v. 20). That is, in the hope for something much
better than the pain coming out of all this.

If you are in a hospital and you hear a woman across the hall
groan or scream, it makes all the difference in how you feel if you
know you are on the maternity ward and not the oncology unit. Why?
Pain is pain, isn't it? No. Some pain leads to life. And some pain
leads to death. And what verse 22 promises is that for the children
of God, all pain leads to life. All the groanings of this world are
the birth pains of the kingdom of God. If you are part of the
kingdom – a child of the King – all your sufferings are
labor pains and not death spasms. And I mean all of them
– even the death spasms!

6. God Promises that Our Bodies Will Be Redeemed from All
Groaning

Verse 23: "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the
first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption
of our body." Listen to the way Paul sings over this truth in 1
Corinthians:

Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep,
but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be
changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the
mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that
is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O
death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" (1
Corinthians 15:51-55)

O you who trust in Jesus Christ for the fulfillment of all his
promises to you, know that in this hope you have been saved, and if
we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it – with
groaning and patience and unconquerable joy.

And to you who are not trusting Christ, remember the words of
the Lord: "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to
become children of God, even to those who believe in His name"
(John 1:12). And if children, heirs of all these promises.
Receive him. Trust him. Amen.